Last Word: Sorry, Mr. President, dissenters are not traitors

February 6, 2018

Dissenters are traitors? Only to dictators

President Trump, ever craving a hug, vented indignation that Democrats failed to applaud his State of the Union address, even when he was touting record low unemployment among African Americans and Latinos. “They were like death,” he told a crowd in Ohio on Monday. “And un-American. Un-American. Somebody said, ‘treasonous.’ I mean, yeah, I guess, why not? Can we call that treason? Why not? I mean, they certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much.”

White House flacks later suggested he was only joking. But Trump’s contempt for the courts and a free press (“enemies of the American people”), his talk about jailing his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton and his expressed admiration for authoritarian leaders are not laughing matters.

Let the record show that some of his lines — such as his introduction of heroes in the House Gallery — did receive widespread applause. Anyone who paid attention to past State of the Union addresses recognizes that the opposition party is always sparing in its applause. Just ask Barack Obama.